Complete the Story
by Literature work
Summary: Inspired by a prompt book called Complete the Story, this is my attempt to do just that. Each chapter is a new prompt in the story (written in Italics) and then my own completion of it in the world of Fullmetal Alchemist. They are all short one shots for a fun read and a writing challenge. Please review if you can!
1. Youswell

_Authour's note: Okay I got this book on sale. It is a type of finish the story thing where they give you a few lines and you have to finish the story yourself. I saw it and was like, why not? So I decided to start this little thing. It would be a wonderful thing to work on when I get writers block. Each chapter will be a new completion of a prompt in the book. The words written in italics (aside from the author's notes) would be what the prompt is and then the rest is how I completed it. I thought this would be fun for people to read. Please review if you can. And if you would like to try writing your own you should get the book it is called_ ** _Complete the Story_**. Have fun with it I know I will.

 ** _Complete the Story_**

Prompt 1

Youswell

 _At first, we thought the black liquid was oil, that we'd struck it rich and that we'd be able to retire and live in leisure. We actually started writing down all the ways we'd spend the money. Our first choice_ was to rebuild the town. We would order materials and get the towns folk together to replace the broken floor boards, fix the leaky roofs. It was a simple dream of not wanting the rain to drip on our faces as we tried to get a good night's rest. The kid's wouldn't get sick because with the money we could buy them a better doctor. We would get a doctor for the whole town, one with an actual degree. There would be so much money left over with the amount of oil spewing out of the mountain side we could buy a whole new town if we wanted. Youswell would be a new place, that is, if we could get past Lieutenant Yoki.

My wife wanted us to keep this a secret. If that man found out he would have us work nonstop to harvest the liquid gold from the ground along with pushing the mine till it was dried up. And us? For breaking our backs we wouldn't see a hay penny. I wanted to agree with her, but there was no possible way that this much oil could have been kept secret, especially when it was flooding our best mine shaft. And if we tried, the town might just be worse off than what we had started with; Yoki would ensure it. That ended the discussion.

We woke up before the night was even beginning under the whip of Yoki's men and headed to the mine's like my wife had predicted. We started to build a rig and attempted to scavenge the oil lost by our waiting. The more I worked with it, the less I thought of it as our salvation, but our damnation. Because of it, that devil on the hill would never leave. The money was too good for him here. Weeks we worked like this, sleeping only when other men could take our place, eating with shovels and picks in our hands. The dark shadows underneath our eyes could no longer be mistaken for dirt. People were beginning to weaken and some never saw the sun rise for the next morning. Yoki didn't care that we were beaten. He didn't have us stop even when our legs gave out from exhaustion. The only moment the world seemed to pause was when the analysis came back.

It wasn't oil. It was false.

All of our dreams went down the drain along with the sludge we had been shovelling from the mountain. But so did our demons. The soldiers retreated like serpents slithering up the slide of the hill to their mansion of gold. They had been defeated, but we were the ones who were worn. We returned to our houses, shacks if you could call them that, and rested our bodies from the endless work we had forced them through. Those who still had the energy to mourn did so for the fellow townsfolk that never returned from the mountain, but most of us just slept. Yoki did get his revenge. For his lost income he raised the taxes of living to the point I worried if I would still have a roof over my head. We feared we would return to living in the mines for the rest of our days. Those who couldn't pay got their houses burned. It was like the fires of hell were raising, and there was no end. No hope. That is until _he_ came along.

That blasted kid in the red coat.


	2. Homecoming

_**Complete the Story**_

Prompt 2

Homecoming

 _Perhaps it was a dream, she thought. Perhaps if she pinched herself, she would wake up. But she didn't want to wake up. She wanted to stay in this dream world where_ not only one but two smiles beamed up at her from the bottom of the hill. Two sets of golden eyes, two heads of golden hair, and two strong hearts walked up the path towards the small house that she had lived for all of her life. There were two of them, and after long last, they were coming home.

Winry found herself racing down the stairs from where she had spotted them in her bedroom window. Her feet carried her with haste towards the front door. The sound of laughter easily startled her heart. It was something she hadn't heard in so long and was afraid she never would again. It didn't sound false, it was heartfelt and true, as if all those years of hardship were just wiped away. Yet, however high her heart held her hopes, her hand hesitated on the door knob.

For years all she saw was a single brother and a cold suit of armor walking down the path away from her house without the sincerity of a true good bye. They had fought and cried for this dream to become a reality, for them to be whole again. Now when it stood just right beyond her door Winry had trouble accepting that it was actually true. It had been so long. She had believed it near impossible. But then again, nothing was impossible.

"Den! That tickles!" she heard her friend's voice laugh loudly from outside. Winry gasped as what a normal exclamation to someone was the world coming from that younger Elric. It was real. It was all real. And she knew now it wasn't a dream but rather a dream come true. Her hand twisted the doorknob and she flung it open, the sun burning her eyes with its ray of light. Two happy faces she saw at a distance from her bedroom window looked up at her. They shone with the light of fullfilled souls and golden hearts. The light brought tears to her eyes. Forgetting the stairs her legs took her off of the front porch and right into the arms of her childhood friends.

She was awake and the dreamscape was still there. No pinching required.


End file.
